VENEZUELA’S ruling Socialists won more than two-thirds of Sunday’s regional elections — prompting opposition claims of fraud.
With one result too close to call, the United Socialist Party won 17 of 23 state governorships to the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition’s five. Bolivar state had yet to declare when the Star went to press.
Mud candidates won in the alliance’s Colombian border strongholds Zulia, Merida and Tachira, along with central Anzoategui and the island state of Nueva Esparta.
International solidarity can ensure that Trump and his machine cannot prevail without a level of political and economic cost that he will not want to pay, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
The global left must be unwavering in it is support for Venezuela as Washington increases its aggression, and clear-eyed about the West’s cynical motives for targeting it, says CLAUDIA WEBBE



